Open Issues in Local Star Formation (Astrophysics and Space Science Library, 299)

The international Colloquium “Open Issues in Local Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution” was held in Ouro Preto (Brazil) from April 05to10, 2003. TheColloquiumtookplaceinthe“ParqueMetalurgico”, ´ an old iron industry that has been transformed into a nice modern c- ference center. Ouro Preto is a 18th century colonial city that has been declared a Cultural Heritage of Mankind in 1980. It is situated in the hills of the State of Minas Gerais at about 100 km from Belo Horizonte. Themeeting was attended by 115 participants from 15 countries. The participants were in general very happy with the high level of the p- sentations and with the friendly ambiance of the discussions. The talks and poster sessions were focused on the physics of young stellar objects, which are being observed with increasing angular resolution provided by the new generation of telescopes, and on the processes that triggered large scale star-formation in the solar neighborhood or in the Galaxy.